On Dealing With People Like Us

New Mexico Business Journal, Sept, 2001

If you've ever been burned by an article or broadcast, you might be interested in what the corporate PR guy for Knight Ridder, a major newspaper publishing company, advised company executives recently. He calls them "rules of thumb:"

Reporters who want to do take-outs on the company virtually always have an agenda. If the agenda isn't friendly (often the case), we muster whatever facts and figures we can to refute or blunt it.

There is nothing the matter with saying nothing or "no comment." Often it makes good sense. We are under no obligation to tell a reporter about our internal business.

Anything I say--any single sentence--can be used in isolation. So I have to think: How will this sound standing on its own? If it isn't going to sound good, best not to go there (This touches on the age-old out-of-context complaint. It's perilous to count on being taken in context.)

"Throwaway remarks" can easily become front and center in the finished article. You will talk to a reporter, watch what you say, think you've got it wrapped and then--official business seemingly over--let your guard down. He sounds like your new best friend, so you tell him something informally and...bingo, it's the Lead.

Although the reporters I have dealt with will respect "off the record" and "as background," you still have to think: What am I trying to accomplish? Because if you impart something that isn't ultimately flattering to what we're all about, and the reporter uses it as a springboard to get someone else to say it, what has been gained?

You might think that newspaper publishers, for whom theses rules of thumb were intended, know how to handle reporters, but many don't. Of course, you will want to tell our reporters everything because they're good and pure. Tell their reporters little or nothing.